Hyperallergic Newsletter: Venice Biennale Strikes, New York Art Fairs, and More

Key facts

• Hakim Bishara attended the 61st Venice Biennale and found it more alive than ever despite boycotts and resignations.
• Koyo Kouoh's main exhibition 'In Minor Keys' is praised.
• A historic strike by artists and cultural workers disrupted the Biennale's pre-opening, the first in 131 years.
• 54 artists and 22 national pavilion teams withdrew from awards consideration in solidarity with the jury's resignation.
• Somalia's first national pavilion debuted at the Biennale, with local cultural organizations saying they were not meaningfully consulted.
• The Neue Galerie will merge with The Metropolitan Museum of Art on Fifth Avenue.
• Three arcade cabinets with the game 'Operation Epic Furious: Strait to Hell' appeared at the DC War Memorial.
• Mary Lovelace O'Neal, painter and Civil Rights activist, died at 84 in Mérida, Mexico.
• Frieze New York, TEFAF New York, 1-54 Art Fair, Independent Art Fair, NADA New York, and Future Fair took place in New York.
• A report on booth pricing across 13 New York art fairs revealed transparency issues.
• Zhanna Kadyrova's 'The Origami Deer' at the Ukrainian Pavilion is reviewed.
• An exhibition on Zurbarán in London is reviewed by Michael Glover.
• Todd Gray's installations reframe Black diasporic history.
• A documentary on Mierle Laderman Ukeles traces her maintenance art practice.
• Ido Nahari writes that IDF soldiers turning their backs in official portraits is a tacit admission of guilt.
• Ed Simon compares Trump's golden statue in Miami to a Moloch idol.
• Archaeologists in Egypt discovered a mummy buried with lines from Homer's Iliad.
• Ridgewood Open Studios drew hundreds to explore the neighborhood's art scene.
• Paddy Johnson explains what an Artist Corporation (A-Corp) is.
• Keith Mayerson discusses his cosmology of American identity and activism.
• Lavett Ballard shares her studio practice, including painting with her granddaughter.
• Michelle Millar Fisher heads to Cooper Hewitt as chief curator.
• Getty grants $1.8M for Black visual art archives.
• Obituaries for Bruno Bischofberger, Manuela Hoelterhoff, and Steven Durland.
• Opportunities for May 2026 from the Bennett Prize, Oak Spring Garden Foundation, and more.